1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an automatic feeding device which can be used in an apparatus such as an image forming device. The invention is more particularly related to an automatic document feeder and its controller which alters a clamped state of a stack of original pages to be scanned, depending on where a paper jam of the automatic document feeder occurs.
2. Discussion of the Background
Image forming devices, such as copying machines, are known. Such image forming devices have various elements such as sensors and timers which can detect when a paper being fed through the image forming device has jammed. Typically, an operator of the copying machine is then informed of the jam and the operator can then take actions to alleviate the jam situation.
However, the drawback with such conventional devices is that after the jam condition is alleviated, there is often a delay until the device is prepared to continue the copying operation. That is, in such conventional devices, a situation may be presented that certain elements of an automatic document feeder are automatically positioned after a paper jam in order to assure that an operator has the ability to clear the jam. However, it may not be necessary to move all elements of the document feeder for every type of jam. Accordingly, an operator may needlessly wait for the elements of the document feeder to return to their original position after a jam has been cleared, even if it was not necessary to move the elements after the jam occurred.